Method of protecting piles.



' liable to the attack of the teredo, until asuf- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIQE.

EDWARD GOLD, OF VANCOUVER, CANADA.

METHOD OF PROTECTING PILES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 686,282, dated November 12, 1901.

Application filed November 13, 1900.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD GO'LD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia and Dominion of Canada, have invented a new and useful Process for Protecting Piles from Teredo, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improved process of protecting piles and other timbers which are submerged or partly submerged in sea-water from the attacks of the Teredo mwalis.

My improved composition consists of: slaked lime, two pounds; asphaltum, (commercial,) thirty pounds; cement, hydraulic, twenty-one pounds, brimstone, (crushed,) three pounds; crude creosote, one pound; asbestos, (powdered,) three pounds; sharp sand or granite rock crushed to a sufficient degree of fineness, sixty pounds.

In the preparation of my improved composition the asphaltum and creosote are heated together in a suitable tank or vessel and well mixed by stirring. The slaked lime, cement, brimstone, powdered asbcstos,and sharp sand or powdered rock in about the proportions specified are first thoroughly mixed together while dry and then added to the melted asphaltum and creosote, the whole being thoroughly mixed and forming a semiflnid plastic mass.

In the application of my improved composition to a pile of other timber by my improved process I take a band or strip of fabric of suitable width and length and of porous and fibrous material and draw the same through the mass of the molten composition in the tank, so as to thoroughly coat and saturate said band, and the same while hot is wrapped spirally around the pile where it is exposed to the action of the salt water and ficient thickness is attained. This band may be of single thickness or may be double. When doubled, the two thicknesses must be kept apart in the tank, so that the hot molten composition will not only saturate the material of the wrapper or band, but a considerable quantity of the composition will also be inclosed between the two thicknesses thereof, and while the composition is still hot I apply an exterior coating of comminuted rock,

Serial No. 36,397. (No specimens.)

such as clean sand or crushed granite, heating the same to insure its embedding itself in and adhering firmly to the surface; By thus immersing the fibrous material within the molten composition not only is the exterior surfaces thereof thoroughly coated there'- with, but all strands and interstices thereof are charged and filled with the composition, thereby rendering the same thoroughly waterproof and exceedingly tenacious in character. In some instances also I -may further wrap a wire of galvanized iron around the outside, which embeds itself in the composition and which strengthens and supports the compound; but usually this is not required, as the nature of my compound is strong and tough and not likely to splinter or break off. After the band has been wrapped around the pile the composition in cooling sets and forms an extremely hard coating thereon, which will not melt or run under the heat of the sun, is not acted upon chemically by the salt water, is exceedingly tenacious, and is not readily cracked or broken even when foreibly struck, as by a hammer.

My improved composition may be applied to form a coating of any desired thickness on the pile or other timber, and in practice the same is applied of a thickness ranging from one-fourth to three-fourths of an inch.

My improved composition may be applied to a pile or .other timber before shipment is made, as my composition is so hard and tenacious that piles or other timbers which have been coated therewith may be rafted or transported by rail or on shipboard and handled without unusual care without danger of injuring the composition thereon.

Having thus described my invention, I claim-- 1. The method of protecting piles and other timbers from the Teredo mwalis, which consists in mixing asphaltum and creosote together in a heated condition, adding thereto a previously-admixed body of sand, cement, slaked lime, crushed brimstone and powdered asbestos, substantially in the proportions specified by weight,presenting thereby a semifiuid mass, coating and saturating a suitable fabric with the composition while in a molten condition, and applying the said fabric while hot to the surfaces of the piles or timbers to 2 esaec be protected, substantially as and for thepurcondition, applying the said fabric while hot pose specified. to the surfaces of the piles or timbers to be 2. The method of protecting piles and other protected, and applying an exterior coating I 5 timbers from the Teredo ncwalz's, which conof heated comminuted rock to the fabric, sub- 5 sists in mixing creosote and asphaltum tos'tantially as described.

gether in a heated condition, adding thereto In testimony that I claim the foregoing as a previously-admixed body of sand, cement, my own I have hereto aflixed my signature in slaked lime, crushed brimstone and powdered the presence of two witnesses.

asbestos, substantially in the proportions EDWARD GOLD. 1o specified by weight,presenting thereby a semi Witnesses:

fluid mass, coating and saturating a suitable W. A. CAMPBELL,

fabric with the composition While in a molten H. G. MELLON. 

